Philippe Charles Lucien Christanval (born 31 August 1978) is a French former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a centre-back. During his career, he played top-flight football in France, Spain and England, and earned six full international caps, as well as a selection to the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

Early life

Christanval was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Club career

Monaco

Christanval's career began at

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...

in 1999, where he made 81 appearances, scoring one goal. They won the 1999–2000 league title, earning him the title of Young Player of the Year, and he made several

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

appearances. In January 2001, it was reported that Monaco were considering exchanging him for Frank LeBoeuf of

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

Barcelona and Marseille

Christanval was then signed by

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

of Spain's

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

for a £6.5 million fee in June 2001, the team he supported as a child. After being released from Barcelona in 2003, he joined

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

on 18 July on a four-year contract. They reached the

2004 UEFA Cup Final The 2004 UEFA Cup Final was an association football match that took place on 19 May 2004 at Ullevi in Gothenburg, Sweden, contested between Spanish side Valencia and French side Olympique de Marseille. Valencia won the match 2–0, with goals from ...

in his first season, but he was an unused substitute as they lost 2–0 to

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

Fulham

After two weeks on trial at Arsenal, their manager Arsène Wenger opted not to sign Christanval. He then joined another

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

London team, Fulham, on 9 September 2005. Upon his signing, manager Chris Coleman stated: In his first appearances at Fulham, he found himself playing in defensive midfield with

Papa Bouba Diop Papa Bouba Diop (28 January 197829 November 2020) was a Senegalese professional footballer. His preferred position was defensive midfield but he could also play as a centre back, where he previously played at Lens. Diop was considered a strong ...

. He was later moved back to his typical position. His only Premier League goal was a late equaliser in a 3–3 draw with

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

on 13 January 2007. In the 2007–08 season he made a single substitute appearance. At the end of the season, Christanval was released by Fulham and was offered a trial with Premier League club

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. On 9 April 2009, Christanval retired from football, having been unable to find a new club.

International career

Christanval was part of the

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

squad at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. He made his full debut on 7 October 2000, in a 0–0 friendly draw away to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. Christanval played four more friendlies in 2002 before his last appearance, a 2–1 away win against

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

in qualification for

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

. He was selected for the

but did not enter the field of play.

Personal life

An artificial pitch in his native

Sarcelles Sarcelles () is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Sarcelles is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department and the seat of the arrondissement of Sarcelles. In the south of the commune ...

was named after Christanval.

Honours

Monaco * Division 1: 1999–2000 *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

Marseille *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

runner-up: 2003–04 Individual * UNFP Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year: 2000

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Christanval, Philippe 1978 births Living people Footballers from Paris French footballers Men's association football defenders INF Clairefontaine players AS Monaco FC players FC Barcelona players Olympique de Marseille players Fulham F.C. players Ligue 1 players La Liga players Premier League players France men's youth international footballers France men's international footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Monaco Expatriate footballers in Spain French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Monaco French expatriate sportspeople in Spain Black French sportspeople